A Colchester-based tattoo artist who decided to take up medical tattooing will be taking her services to Ipswich.

Alice has been a tattoo artist for 13 years and moved towards medical tatooing two years ago Picture: Alice Nicholls

Alice Nicholls, 34, who has been a tattooist for 13 years, decided 2 years ago that she start using her skills to camouflage scars, stretch marks and vitiligo (a condition which leads to pigmentation of the skin) by covering them with flesh toned tattoos.

She will now be taking her skills to Dr Linea’s Aesthetics Clinic in Ipsiwch.

Mrs Nicholls was trained to mix exact skin tones to match her patients and even tattoos 3-D nipples onto people who have had mastectomies and breast re-construction surgery.

“It’s all about the shading,” said Alice.

Alice has her own brand of flesh tone tattoo ink Picture: Alice Nicholls

“I have an art degree so I’m good at drawing body parts, I draw out all the pieces to order and make sure the colour is right so the areola looks 3-D.

“Some people have genetic issues with their areolas that means they are small, I can make them look bigger, some people get discolouration in their nipples as they get older, I can put the colour back in.”

Alice will continue to practise her medical tattooing at her ‘An 79 Beautiful Tattoos Studio’ in Colchester until September when she will move to the Ipswich clinic.

A move she hopes will make people feel more comfortable getting a procedure from her.

She said: “I wanted to do this sort of thing in a clinic so that people would feel slightly more comfortable, so I called up Dr Linea’s and they were keen for us to come in. “Obviously you could go and get these things rectified with plastic surgery but with this you are certainly less likely to have any complications.”

Alice also has own range of flesh tone tattoo inks and after care products, known as An 79, specifically designed for people getting this kind of tattoo.

She said: “The range of products is something that has grown recently.

“It’s not always easy to tattoo on scarred skin, people who get tattoos on scar tissue need to be extra careful when cleaning it after, they need to get the right balance of healthy nutrients onto the skin.”

Alice hopes that she can continue to use her skills to make people happy, she said: “It’s amazing seeing the difference this can make to somebodies life.”

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